In Praise Of County’s Volunteer Fire Companies

To The Editor:

I was present when local fire companies responded to a call for a possible chimney fire at the home of a neighbor this past week. We live in an area that can be described as remote – accessed by unpaved roads, and most of us in the neighborhood live off the road with possibly long, narrow, steep and curved driveways. The first responder arrived at the same time we did. According to the homeowner that was within 10 minutes of his initial call. The first fire trucks arrived within five minutes after we did. Two of the county fire departments were there, possibly all three. I can only say that knowing the circumstances of the call (location, day of week, time of day) the response was nothing less than incredible. My family has been fortunate, and we’ve never needed to enlist the help of a fire company, so this is the first time I’ve been present to see them in action. Great job!

It is very easy to take the services provided by these companies for granted. For those of you who support the local fire companies as personnel on the team, thank you so much for your time and effort and energy and dedication to helping those in need. For those of you who support the local fire companies financially through donations, thank you as well; it was quite an experience to be able to see them using some of the technology and equipment currently available to make the job faster, easier and safer, and it is financial support that makes that possible.